{"id":890504,"date":"2026-09-10T13:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890504\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T13:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:02:10","slug":"remco-evenepoel-brings-some-ambition-and-some-wiggle-room-to-the-grands-prix-cyclistes-de-quebec-et-de-montreal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890504\/","title":{"rendered":"Remco Evenepoel brings some ambition and some wiggle room to the Grands Prix Cyclistes de Qu\u00e9bec et de Montr\u00e9al"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sure, Remco Evenepoel would like to win another one-day race, whether that\u2019s the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec this Friday or the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montr\u00e9al that follows on Sunday. But really, the priority is the world championships, both the elite men\u2019s time trial and the road race, starting a week after the Montreal GP.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday in Quebec City, late in Evenepoel\u2019s day that included a training ride, he discussed what followed his second place overall at July\u2019s Tour de France and winning his fourth Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa at the start of August. After the racing, he took a short break before heading to train at altitude for three weeks, a session he dubbed the \u201cCanada Project<\/a>\u201d on Strava. Compared with his preparation for the Tour de France, the Canada Project featured more work on his explosive power. Here, he won\u2019t face long mountain passes, but punchier efforts instead. Then Evenepoel practically came down from the Sierra Nevada and headed across the Atlantic Ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis coming weekend is really about finding sensations again and seeing where I am,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve prepared for the two races here, then another week for a time trial, which is always quite specific, and then the road race. Clearly, in every race, I\u2019ll aim as high as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Remco<\/a>Remco Evenepoel. Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec. Image: James Startt\/GPCQM<\/p>\n

For Evenepoel, the Quebec GPs are a bit of a puzzle. \u201cIt\u2019s always a strange kind of race. You never know on which lap the race will explode,\u201d he said. \u201cHere, these are quite explosive races, so things can move on every lap, and that\u2019s what I like. They are always open races where you never know how it will unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n

A cynic might accuse Evenepoel of not having paid attention to these races since his only appearance at them in 2019. For the past four editions in Montreal, it\u2019s been UAE Team Emirates-XRG deploying TNT at will, whether Tadej Poga\u010dar is there or not. Quebec, however, has remained more open to fast finishers and opportunists. Evenepoel remarked on the recent change to the finish of the Quebec City circuit. Prior to 2025, racers took on the long false flat up Grande All\u00e9e Est to the finish line. Last year, Julian Alaphilippe snagged his big win after tuning onto George VI Ave. and riding to victory in Battlefields Park. \u201cI think the finish climb suits me better now than before,\u201d Evenepoel said.<\/p>\n

While Evenepoel said he\u2019s aiming high for the one-day WorldTour races, the GPs seem to have some wiggle room built into them. \u201cThere are ambitions, but you never know,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was the flight, the travel, and I came back from altitude just a few days ago. So I don\u2019t know how the body will react to altitude and jetlag. You never know if one of the two races might not go well at all. We\u2019ll have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy coach also told me that I should never panic if one of the races this weekend doesn\u2019t go super well,\u201d Evenepoel added later, \u201cas there\u2019s still time to feel at my top level for the world championship road race.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, I think everything will go well.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2019, Evenepoel finished 99th in Quebec and 53rd in Montreal. He won the world championship road race in 2022, and has won the TT world championship race the past three years.<\/p>\n

\"Remco<\/a>Remco Evenepoel. Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec. Image: Yves Perret\/GPCQM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sure, Remco Evenepoel would like to win another one-day race, whether that\u2019s the Grand Prix Cycliste de Qu\u00e9bec…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82,11588],"class_list":["post-890504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}